


99 Problems

by baekilui



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Domestic, Drama, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, M/M, OT9 (EXO), Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-05
Updated: 2019-09-14
Packaged: 2019-11-12 12:11:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 18,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18010685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baekilui/pseuds/baekilui
Summary: Junmyeon thought his parents would be kind enough to pay for his college and the big apartment he chose, but to his surprise, his parents said nope and Junmyeon was forced to get subtenants. Not just one subtenant, no, but a whole cast of 8 of them.9 men with 9 hobbies and 9 dreams that take 9 years to achieve. But they keep their chins up, and even the smallest of achievements mean the most to them.





	1. 1st problem (prologue): where it all began

**Author's Note:**

> Been a fan for over 4 years, I've got some tea to spill about these men. (AhEm, many gay, much gay)
> 
> Jk, this is fiction, but if you're a fan, you'll notice that some of the things are actually said by them.
> 
> Has some ships, including, but not limited to, seho and xiuchen. gonna add everyone x everyone scenes to please y'all.
> 
> I'm trying my best to be funny, you'll notice when it's forced.
> 
> also, irregular updates (let's say I try to update at least once a month, my goal is every 2 weeks!) and I take suggestions for scenes, might not execute all of them, but if you have ideas, please, feel free to share them ~ And just any kind of feedback, I'll gladly take in. ^^
> 
> ♥ THANK YOU, I LOVE YOU ♥
> 
>  
> 
> I got 99 problems, but at least you make them bearable.
> 
> (Probably won't have 99 chapters, unless, of course, y'all suggest a lot of scenes I could make)

_"You could fit a whole soccer team in this house!" Junmyeon's mother screams in shock as she sees the new house his son had rented._

_"Don't you think it's lovely?" Junmyeon breathes out. He looks at his house with such admiration one could thing he was looking at the love of his life._

_"It's big. How much is the rent?" His father asks all serious._

_Junmyeon stays silent._

_"How much?" The father repeats himself._

_Junmyeon tells them the number and both his parents start raging about it loudly, screaming and huffing and what not. After they calm themselves, his father continues._

_"That's it. You're gonna abolish the contract or pay it all by yourself. Either way, don't be expecting money from us. You're all on your own."_

_Junm_ _yeon is taken aback by these harsh words._

_"This is so huge! You could fit like... a whole... baseball team here. Seriously", the mother says again._

_This time Junmyeon gets a mindboggling idea that his parents probably won't approve of - but this way he'll make it without his parents help._


	2. 2nd problem

Junmyeon really thought this was his dream, that everything would go perfectly as he had planned. He thought he would get into a university and study something he likes, get a nice apartment and have lots of friends and acquaintances. Then be overall successful in the future.

Turns out real life isn’t like that. Life doesn’t work as he had planned at all. He didn’t get into college until the third time he tried. He also hates the field he’s studying in, he doesn’t like economic science at all, but he didn’t realize it sooner. He is now in his third year of university, and finally, his parents let him move out and live on his own.

Junmyeon thought everything was going to change, turn for the better as soon as he got a place of his own and he wouldn’t have to talk to his parents nor his brother anymore.

He was wrong. His problems only grew bigger and more difficult when he got a place and his parents suddenly told him that he’s going to have to pay for it himself. Apparently it’s a secret contract, as soon as you move out, you have to take care of yourself and you’ll get no financial support from your parents.

Junmyeon regrets getting a big-ass apartment with a 900 dollar monthly rent. There is no way he’s going to manage taking care of that check monthly, but he doesn’t want to admit it to his parents, nor does he want to crawl back to them.

So he put out posters and notices that he’s looking for subtenants, roommates. Preferably men, and the more the merrier. Well, actually, the more, the cheaper. Not the smartest idea to put them on the streets of Seoul, but he’s desperate and without money. He just hopes that he gets decent people as his roommates, he’s very picky when it comes to people. He doesn’t like loud people, nor does he like ones that are too quiet. He just wants people he can live with, is that too much to ask for?

He already agreed to 7 interviews, they all sounded okay. He got 20 phone calls in total, but some of them he had to say no to since they sounded like they had more in mind than to just living with him.

Junmyeon is tapping his fingers together. He’s nervous for some reason. Mainly because he doesn’t want to end up living with criminals, murderers or rapists. He wants to feel safe in his own home, not to wake up in pieces, used, or not wake up at all.

He taps his foot and looks around himself. He’s lived in this house for two days, all by himself. It’s quite lonely. There are four bedrooms, a bathroom, a living room and a kitchen, of course. Junmyeon doesn’t know what he was thinking when he got the apartment, what made him think he would need four rooms just to himself?

He’s most likely just accustomed to the rich style of living, he’s never had to deal with financial problems. The apartment looked nice and open, he wanted to have it!

He’s looking at his phone on his lap, it’s facing down. He purses his lips together as he’s waiting for someone to call him or to show up at his door.

**

Sehun checks himself out one last time in the mirror before he walks out of the door. He saw a flier about living with other men for practically free in downtown Seoul, and there’s not a single thing stopping him from going to see that apartment. Not even if his father rejected the plan. He doesn’t much like the idea of his son with so many other men.

Sehun loves it. Ever since he was young he’s loved being around many people, and he’s kinda hoping for the guys to be hot. He saw the tenant’s name and searched him online, of course. He looked like a typical ulzzang. Sehun would totally let the man bang him.

His path to the apartment isn’t long, and he feels confident when knocking on the big wooden door. The apartment looks like a regular house on its own. Sehun likes that, he wants some privacy from the neighbors.

He doesn’t have to stand there for long before the door opens for him, and a slightly smaller man appears. Sehun was right. He is handsome. He has a perfectly sculpted face by Gods and a strong physique.

The man’s mouth hangs slightly open, forgetting how to breathe.

“Hello?” Sehun waves his hand awkwardly at his face, but Junmyeon is lost. He has never met a man more beautiful than the one waving his hand in front of him. He has black silky hair, tall, skinny body and damn, those eyes.

“Right. Hi, I’m Junmyeon, are you here for the interview?” To become his roommate, of course. He tries his best to be polite and professional, but he is sure he’ll let this man in. He closes the door behind Sehun as the latter walks inside.

Sehun looks around himself with a faint smile, looking at every detail in the apartment. It’s almost empty, there’s only a couch and a TV in the living room, he doesn’t even want to imagine what the rooms look like. They probably don’t even have beds.

Junmyeon sits on a garden chair, motioning for the other to sit opposite him. Sehun sits down in his calm way, other people don’t make him nervous. He’s used to meeting all kinds of weirdos. Unlike Junmyeon.

“So, you are..?” Junmyeon starts, looking at Sehun straight in the eyes. He does have pretty eyes.

“I’m Sehun. Oh Sehun.” He crosses his legs and smiles. He looks like a gentle person, and Junmyeon is completely fine with that.

“Great! I didn’t just let any stranger in my house,” Junmyeon continues, looking a lot down at his legs. He avoids eye contact and keeps tapping his feet on the floor. “So, how old are you?”

“21,” he chuckles. He desperately tries to maintain eye contact but it’s not going to happen. “How about you? You can’t be more than 22, right?”

Was that a flirt? It felt like a flirt to Junmyeon. It was totally a flirt. “I’m actually 24. Is that okay?”

“Sure,” Sehun says but it seems like he’s more than okay with that. Maybe he has a thing for older men. But just maybe.

“What do you do for a living?”

Sehun looks at his feet and bites his lower lip. “Well, you know, I film videos.”

Junmyeon widens his eyes, he likes people who follow their passion even though it doesn’t make any money. “Really? That’s amazing,” he almost gets up. “But are you okay with sharing your room with someone? I mean, making videos must need some sort of privacy, right?”

“I do need my privacy, sure, but it only takes about an hour or two a day…” He leans back confidently.

“What’s your channel’s name? I’d love to check it out.”

Sehun knits his eyebrows together. Oopsie. Not that kind of channel. “Where?”

“Youtube..? Isn’t that where you post videos?” Junmyeon looks puzzled.

“Oh… Right. Of course. I’d rather not tell you, I’m embarrassed,” he lies. He doesn’t do stuff on youtube, no. And he certainly doesn’t want Junmyeon to know what he actually films. Not for now, at least.

“Okay,” he says with a faint nod, going on with the interview. So far there is nothing Junmyeon would dislike about Sehun, he’s not loud, he’s not awkward. He’s hot...

He’s in. He was never out, which is rare for Junmyeon. He’s never this certain of anything. He told Sehun he can move in, it all happened so fast. They said their byes and Junmyeon was left daydreaming for a while. Now this isn’t so bad.

The second person to be interviewed knocks on the door and Junmyeon of course opens the door for them. Behind the door frame he sees a man dressed in brown clothes, he has bronze skin and brown hair. He looks like a bear in Junmyeon’s opinion. He has a dazzling smile, he has to admit.

“Hi! I’m Jongin, nice to meet you!” He bows deeply and almost bumps his head onto Junmyeon.

He lets the walking teddy in and they sit on the garden chairs as well. Jongin however is completely different from Sehun, he seems a lot more nervous and excited than the former. Junmyeon smiles at his wholesomeness.

“So, Jongin, what do you do?” He sounds like an employer once again.

“I teach dance to elementary students, but one day I’ll be a famous dancer!” He has a glint of pride in his eyes as he tells Junmyeon about his passion.

“I like that. So, like how old are you?” Junmyeon smiles. Looking into this dedicated teddy bear’s eyes is much less intimidating than the former guest’s.

“I’m 21.” As old as Sehun. He likes the idea of being a hyung to these guys.

Jongin keeps nodding his head and showing that beautiful smile of his. He seems like an obedient person, a person in need of a place to say. How could Junmyeon say no to him?

They talk for a while and they part ways, and to both of their surprise, Junmyeon told Jongin that he could come live with him. Jongin thanked him many times before he left, and Junmyeon feels they will get along just fine.

The third person to come to the interview is someone shorter than him, but just slightly. He looks probably the youngest of them all and he keeps pulling his sleeves down uncomfortably. He keeps looking at the ground, only looks up at Junmyeon once in a while.

Junmyeon is thankfully in a good mood from the other two people, he has to restrain himself from agreeing to let the man stay without even a proper hello.

“Hi, I’m Kim Minseok. I came here for the internet-” the man widens his eyes and looks up. “I mean the interview. Interview”, he corrects himself quickly.

Junmyeon smiles gently. “I like your honesty. Come in.” He’s already in a good mood, this won’t affect him. They too take seats at the same garden chairs Junmyeon interviewed them all. But Minseok doesn’t look much around him, just keeps looking straight ahead and down.

“So, you wanna live here because of the WiFi, huh?” Junmyeon chuckles as he leans back on his seat.

“Uh… That too, but I just wanna have a cheap place to stay at,” he replies with a silent voice. “I’m a self-published author, I don’t make much money.” They manage to keep an eye contact for a while, before Minseok breaks it.

Junmyeon knits his eyebrows together. He does like his honesty. Seeing Junmyeon’s face like that, Minseok panics, trying to stutter out some words. “I-I-I mean, I can of course take care of my part of the bills, I’m very responsible and I can take care of myself.”

Junmyeon widens his eyes. “Great. You can move here,” he smiles gently, to which the man smiles back to, “but aren’t you too young to be a self-published author?” As if there was a destined age to become one.

Minseok tries to remain calm, but he’s happy that this was so sudden. He hates waiting for a long time just to get rejected. “Maybe,” he shrugs, “but I have a bachelor’s degree in literature.”

The interrogator rounds his eyes and his mouth flies open. “I thought you were like 19 or something!”

“I get that a lot. I’m actually 25.”

Junmyeon would’ve never guessed his age. They awkwardly wave their byes before Junmyeon makes a fool of himself. He was talking informally all this time, but Minseok didn’t seem to mind.

The next one to be interrogated is behind the door just a few moments after Minseok left. This man is way taller than Junmyeon and he has black hair that’s covering his forehead. He shakes Junmyeon’s hand firmly and introduces himself. “I’m Park Chanyeol.” He comes in before Junmyeon can even reply.

Confidently he sits down on the infamous chair and crosses his fingers on his barely existing stomach. He has a bright smile on his face. 

“When can I move in?” He begins, making Junmyeon a bit startled.

“Move in?” Junmyeon looks puzzled. He didn’t agree to that yet, did he?

“Yeah, I thought you said that you need roommates, and I need a place to stay. So it’s a deal?” Chanyeol looks at Junmyeon with his other eyebrow raised. It’s like the roommate spot is obviously meant for Chanyeol, he knows it is, and he thinks it's a given that Junmyeon also thinks that way.

“I mean, of course. But I wanna know something about the people I’m gonna live with. Like, what do you do?” Junmyeon reasons back. He’s not sure what to think about this.

“Okay, fine. I’m 23, and I compose music.” He looks around himself. Junmyeon thinks he isn’t that bad, not after he fell off his high horse. “I’m sorry. I’d just really want to be your roomie!” He pouts, and it’s working on the older.

“Does making music disturb the other residents, or..?” Junmyeon asks. He looks at the younger with questioning eyes, but the other only chuckles at that.

“Depends on the residents.” Not the answer he was looking for. “Anyway, it’s a deal? You’ll text me the details? Thank you so much, bye!” And with that, he runs away from the apartment. Junmyeon is left puzzled and confused, but he doesn’t want to say no to Chanyeol now! God knows he was a douche but it would be awkward.

Just as Junmyeon is about to go close the door, another man comes in.

“Sheez, what was his problem?” The unknown figure jokes, coming in without being asked to. He smiles brightly and introduces himself. “I’m Byun Baekhyun, and I assume you’re Junmyeon.” He has loose clothes and a happy expression on his face. He seems like a chill person, considering he just saw a man run out of the apartment and he still dares to walk in like it’s nothing.

“I don’t know. He was weird”, Junmyeon laughs. “Baekhyun... tell me a little about yourself.” He leads them to sit down, and Baekhyun follows obediently. He sits down, he seems chill.  
“I’m 23 and a game developer, I can do a lot of things, like stay in my room for 20 hours straight,” he still has that dazzling smile on as he leans on the back of the chair.

“20 hours?! Isn’t that too much, though..?”

Baekhyun shakes his head. “Nah, it’s what I do best.”

“Do you get along with others? You might have to share a room with someone if I let you in,” Junmyeon smiles but he looks a bit worried. That Chanyeol guy left a bitter taste in his mouth. This dude, however, seems cool.

“Of course”, he replies with a sweet smile that somehow looks inauthentic. Like he was telling the biggest lie. But Junmyeon wants to believe he’s speaking the truth.

He’s in. He hasn’t rejected anyone yet. He feels exhausted, but he still has two more to interview, and it’s already noon. The thought of just letting everyone stay without proper hellos seems like a great idea to Junmyeon right now.

The next one that comes after Baekhyun is Kyungsoo. That’s what he said with his killer looks and deep voice. By killer looks, I mean both hot and a psychopath.

“Do Kyungsoo… Can we do this quick? I have two more to interview today,” Junmyeon sighs with a joke. It sounded funny in his head, but this Kyungsoo guy isn’t laughing.

“Sure. I’m 22 and work at the grocery store,” he says in all seriousness. Despite Junmyeon wanting this to be over with, he can’t but be curious.

“Grocery store? Really? Aren’t you supposed to be studying?”

Kyungsoo shrugs but keeps his big eyes on Junmyeon. He sits with his legs on the ground and his hands on his thighs, his posture is straight. He’s too serious to Junmyeon’s liking. “I don’t care about studying.” He’s a simple man. “And before you ask, no, I don’t fuck with satan.”

“Then what do you care about?” Junmyeon dares to ask. He looks like he doesn’t care about anything to be completely honest.

A sudden glint of pride flashes in Kyungsoo’s eyes. “Acting. If you ever hear me talking to myself, I’m probably not going crazy, just rehearsing lines. But if you hear me singing, then I'm going crazy.” Junmyeon thinks he should laugh, but this guy doesn't send off a jokester vibe, he doesn't dare to laugh.

So far so good, Junmyeon has only gotten himself artists and very ambitious people. He likes that. He sends Kyungsoo away with a green light. He passed. He didn’t show much emotion on his face, just a half-smile.

Junmyeon falls on the couch, exhausted. Who knew talking to people would be this tiring? He almost gets comfortable on the chair and oozes his eyes before he hears a knock on the door.

Oh no, make it stop.

He goes to open the door to see a fine young man with kittenish lips smiling at him.

“Hi! I’m Kim Jongdae,” he walks in casually. He looks chill too, unlike Junmyeon who keeps tapping his feet impatiently.

“Hi. So, how old are you and what do you do?” Junmyeon doesn’t bother to talk like a decent human being anymore, his face is all scrunched up and he gives the bad eye to Jongdae.

“I’m 23 and I sing a lot at bars and such. I guess I could teach kids how to sing, too, but I don’t know if that’s what I wanna do.” He has a dreamy look on his face. It seems like Junmyeon’s crankiness doesn’t affect him at all.

“Great. You’re in. Mi casa es tu casa, or something like that.”

Jongdae widens his eyes in disbelief. “Really. It was that easy? I don’t know why my brother was trying to make me so scared about this.”

Junmyeon nods along, not hearing a single word he said. He keeps leading the younger outside, but he doesn’t stop, even when he’s slammed the door on his face.

“Thank you!” He hears a final scream outside before he disappears.

He lost track on how many he’s interviewed already. Hopefully, that was the last one. He immediately lays on the couch, covering his face with his hands. Silence, at last. He has a feeling that there’s one left, but he doesn’t hear anyone at the door, so he lets it be.

That was one heck of a day. How is he going to last weeks, months, hopefully not years with these people?

He probably won’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, sorry if this chapter was long and boring, but I hope you still liked it. More will happen in the future I swear. Also ain't ot8 an option, you'll see Yixing in this fic, just wait. THANK YOU ♥


	3. 3rd problem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hihi I'm back, sorry it's been a while! Hope you like it! Remember, I take feedback and suggestions!!

“No, we should get brown couches, obviously.”

“Well eat me, bite me, and suck my dick. No.”

The guys moved in yesterday, and are currently decorating and furnishing the apartment to fit all of their styles. But it’s difficult when there are 8 of them trying to put everything into place and their styles don’t match. Like now, Jongin wants brown decor but Chanyeol prefers red.

“We can’t make the whole apartment all brown, Jongin,” Baekhyun now butts into Chanyeol’s and Jongin’s argument. He’s flipping the pages of some catalog on the floor. Junmyeon told them all to pick out things they’d like while he’s at college. Then they’ll decide together whether or not they’ll take them.

Kyungsoo is sitting next to Baekhyun, flipping the pages fast. He doesn’t want any of these. He doesn’t care. As long as it’s fine with everyone else, it’s fine with him. Jongdae is talking to Sehun in the kitchen, they’re figuring out the cloths for the table and curtains. Minseok is sitting on the one remaining couch uncomfortably. Everyone else is so used to this, but Minseok feels like he has a stick up his bum.

Jongin frowns at Baekhyun but doesn’t say anything else. He sits down on the ground next to Kyungsoo. Chanyeol looks like he’s won a gold medal in persuasion.

“Ha! Let’s get red couches!” The giant yells, jumping up with his fist in the air.

“Not so fast, Chanyeol, we didn’t agree on anything yet,” Sehun says as he comes into the living room with Jongdae. It seems like they really hit it off from the start.

“Yeah. Besides, I’m with Jongin on this one,” Jongdae points to Jongin with a smile, “Brown is so much better for a couch. Red looks like we’re running a brothel.”

Chanyeol looks betrayed. He gasps audibly before settling with a huff. He does agree, it doesn’t fit with the current couch or decor, and they can’t afford any extra furniture, so they can’t get two new couches.

“Fine,” Chanyeol says disappointedly. He’s used to getting his way. Why not this time?

Jongin smiles brightly. It’s the first time he gets it his way. He’s such a pushover.

“Maybe we should vote. All who want the couch to be brown, raise your hands,” Baekhyun now says. Jongin, Sehun, and Jongdae raise their hands. Three out of seven. Chanyeol jumps up again with a loud yell. He won, or so he thinks.

“Hold up, Chanyeol. This doesn’t mean we’re getting a red couch,” the gamer continues, holding up his index finger. He seems to love the suspense. “All who want a red couch, raise your hands.” And no one does.

Not even Chanyeol. He keeps looking at Baekhyun with big eyes, feeling betrayed. “I thought we could be friends, Baekhyun.” He has the sweetest puppy look on his face as he acts disappointed. Baekhyun smiles, shaking his finger at Chanyeol. 

“Hyung, what color do you want?” Jongdae turns to Minseok, and the older seems flustered from the sudden attention. Jongdae has the sweetest smile on his face and the most gentle voice in the whole universe.

“Uh… I don’t care, as long as you guys like it.” Minseok’s reply made everyone quiet. Minseok hasn’t said a lot during all this time, so whenever he speaks, everyone listens intently. The silence makes him more uncomfortable. He’s gonna have to take a while to get used to this.

“I don’t care either. Just choose whatever,” Kyungsoo says, breaking the silence. He gets up slowly with a sigh. Everyone keeps their eyes on him, so he scrunches his nose. “But for the aesthetic appeal, I’d go with black, since it goes so well with these coffee brown walls,” he points to the walls, and everyone’s eyes follow. “Also with white cloths and other small furniture, they’ll brighten up the living room, so it’s not so dark.”

Everyone looks at Kyungsoo with weird expressions on their faces. It’s yet again silent, so Kyungsoo decides to go to the kitchen area. They’ll have to think this through.

“I like Kyungsoo’s idea,” Chanyeol exclaims, raising his hands up.

“Me too,” they all say one after another. Finally, they agreed on something.

“But how do you know all this, Kyungsoo?” Sehun asks. He has a clear view to the kitchen, so he looks at the smaller man with disbelief in his eyes.

“Don’t get your hopes up, my mother’s just an interior designer.” They all sigh understandingly.

They continue into details, and when Junmyeon gets home, he’s pleased to see them all get along so well. He walks into the living room with a smile on his face. He looks at everyone and says hello to all of them. He’s finally home after a horrible day at the university.

“Have you made progress?” He asks from the group, to which they nod. He takes a seat next to Minseok. “Then… Should we go shopping?”

“With what money were you thinking to buy all this, exactly?” Baekhyun drops, making Junmyeon flustered. He didn’t think about the money at all. He never does.

“Your money..?” He looks at Baekhyun with a playful smile. It makes Sehun muffle a burst of laughter.

Baekhyun smiles back obnoxiously, he has no money, Junmyeon knows that. “Well, guess we won’t buy anything then.”

“I’m kidding. It was a joke,” Junmyeon leans back on the couch, eyeing all of the guys. “I have some money left on my account, and at least some of you can assist, right?”

Everyone suddenly avoids eye contact. Sehun pouts and looks at Jongdae, who keeps his eyes on the lamp as if thinking about the interiors. Minseok is the only one who looks at Junmyeon in the eyes.

“Right..?” He desperately asks again when the silence gets inevitable.

“No,” Minseok replies casually. Sehun shushes him and gets near Junmyeon.

“I have money. I can help,” Sehun states, making the older smile. “But first, I think we should hear Kyungsoo’s thoughts about the designs.” No one dares to disagree since they won’t be the ones paying for anything.

“Yeah, Kyungsoo, show us what you got.”

Kyungsoo goes to the entrance of the house, pointing at the rack on the right. “Everything here is fine. But,” he starts walking along the hall, everyone keeps looking, “this wall needs a mirror, but overall the brown paint looks good.” He points at the wall on the left, the area between two doors, two bedrooms. There are also two bedrooms on the right.

Everyone keeps looking at him silently. “Oh, and I think a navy blue carpet would bring some life in here,” he points to the ground on the hallway. He gets to the main area where all of the guys are sitting and points to the center. “We need a big table here. Enough big for all 8 of us to sit here. I’m thinking of white or gray chairs and table.”

He looks thoughtful as he steps into the living room. The living room is slightly smaller than the rest of the area since there is a bathroom attached to the wall. He was thinking about placing the table next to the bathroom and the living room.

“The living room space is fine. We just need one more couch, and I think it should be black.”

Junmyeon turns to look at Minseok with a gasp. “Should we be writing this down??”

“No, hopefully, someone will remember the things he said. He himself probably remembers,” Minseok assures. Kyungsoo ignores them completely, going on with his tour.

He walks into the already in place kitchen, eyeing the cabinets and stove, not quite figuring out what to say. “The kitchen isn’t fine, but we shouldn’t waste money on that.” He turns to look at Baekhyun, who has his mouth hanging open.

“No way you learned all that from your mother,” he blurts out, getting up to stand.

“My mom taught me many things. Believe me, she wanted to pass this skill on me,” Kyungsoo closes his eyes and shakes his head slightly.

“Well fuck, that was great,” Chanyeol exclaims with his hands once again up.

“You really can’t shut up, can you?” Junmyeon frowns at Chanyeol. He doesn’t like this kind of language he is using.

“Why would I?”

“...Anyways, what about the bedrooms?” Jongdae changes the subject as it gets silent again.

“I don’t care, put whatever you want there. If it fits, that is,” Kyungsoo replies with a shrug.

“I can’t fit anything in my room since I share it with that giant,” Baekhyun complains, glaring at Chanyeol.

“Your room? Last time I checked, it was my room too! Besides, your computer and other geek shit take like two-thirds of the room!” Chanyeol points out loudly. They shared one night together in the same room, and this is the outcome?

The owner of the place looks at the two fighting with a frown on his face. How disappointing. “Should we change the roommate system then? Any ideas?”

Jongin tries to say something but is cut off by Jongdae who didn’t notice him speaking. “Why? Just because those two don’t get along we have to rearrange everything?” He looks at the two and shakes his head. “You two are problematic.”

“Actually-,” Jongin tries to open his mouth once again but is cut off by fierce Chanyeol.

“Problematic? If I’m so problematic, then why don’t you show me what an unproblematic person is, because I can’t see anything close to that in this household!” He yells back.

The oldest of the group looks at Chanyeol with raised eyebrows, he really is problematic. Kyungsoo doesn’t seem to care, he’s in the kitchen, minding his own business. Sehun looks like he’s about to grab some popcorn and watch the fight unravel, but Junmyeon wouldn’t let him.

“Can I just-,” the bear man tries for the third time, and when Baekhyun is about to interrupt him again, he bursts. “WILL YOU LET ME SPEAK, DAMMIT.”

Everyone gets quiet and turns to Jongin. He has crossed his arms and pushed out his lower lip. “Thank you. As I was saying, uh, I think we should change rooms according to our hobbies... For example, Chanyeol should stay with me or Kyungsoo, since he needs a lot of table space but I and Kyungsoo don’t. Same for Baekhyun.”

Jongin has stopped talking but nobody dares to open their mouths again, who knows if he will start yelling again. The anger of a kind man is the worst kind of anger. The teddy notices this and motions with his hands for the guys to go ahead and speak.

“I like that idea,” Jongdae says with his kittenish smile. “but I wanna stay with Minseok, he’s quiet enough.”

“If you’re gonna stay with Minseok, then I’m gonna stay with Junmyeon!” Sehun pouts childishly. At this rate, they won’t get any change done.

“Then I am going to live with Kyungsoo,” Chanyeol starts confidently, but is crushed down by the shorty’s quick but firm no, you’re not. “Then I am going to live with Jongin,” he says again, like the former never even happened. None of them want to stay with Chanyeol, since he’s such a puppeteer, always getting people and things to work his way. Jongin is the total opposite, so he of course agrees.

“Great. Now it’s all settled. I and Sehun live on the first room on the right, Minseok and Jongdae live on the first room on the left, Chanyeol with Jongin on the second right and Kyungsoo with Baekhyun on the second left room. Will you all now survive?” Junmyeon asks. Everyone nods.

It’s easy to live with guys, they forgive each other so fast. You just have to pat their shoulder and say sorry and that’s it. Or so Junmyeon believes. At this point.

Sehun smiles at Junmyeon. He likes Junmyeon a lot, mainly because of his jokes and because he’s hot. They don’t know each other that well yet. Who knows what kind of a mess he’ll get into thanks to his feelings. He just hopes it’s nothing serious.


	4. 4th problem

“What do you wanna be when you grow up?”

Sehun hates that question so much, he doesn’t want to think about the future. He likes how things are right now. He can’t say that, can he?

“I dunno. I guess I just wanna feel good and loved. How about you?” Sehun lays on his bed, speaking to his laptop.

“I could totally make you feel loved,” his laptop answers. Of course, it isn’t the laptop speaking, but there’s a man on the screen. He’s on a video call with Sehun.

Sehun smiles seductively to the camera. He’s appalled by this man, usually, his clients aren’t so disgusting. He can practically see this half-bald man with a wedding ring on his finger jerk off to Sehun just talking. Doesn’t matter what. He could just stay still and say nothing and this man would be coming in his pants.

But money is money, and he doesn’t have to necessarily see this man ever again. Besides, their session is almost done.

“You can try,” Sehun says with a smirk. But I’m assuming you don’t understand the concept of camboy, Sehun wants to add, but fights the urge.

Someone knocks on Sehun’s door and he quickly says his goodbyes to the person on the other line. He closes his laptop with a shudder and puts it on his nightstand.

“Come in,” Sehun says, not knowing what to expect. He’s wearing shorts and a loose t-shirt, hopefully it’s not the queen of England behind that door.

“Hi, Sehun, I hope I’m not disturbing you or anything.” It’s their giant, Chanyeol. He gets in and sits on Junmyeon’s made bed that’s across the room, opposite to Sehun. He jumps a little on the springs and looks at Sehun with disbelief in his eyes. “Wow, Junmyeon got a nice bed. I might crawl next to him tonight.”

“Did you come here just to test his bed?” Sehun asks, looking at Chanyeol under his eyebrows. Sehun actually wants to test the bed too, if you know what I mean.

“Well, no. I just came here since everyone else is busy. Kyungsoo and Jongin are working and Junmyeon is at the university. Baekhyun is playing video games, Minseok told me to leave him alone, he’s writing his book, and Jongdae went grocery shopping. So I came here to bother you. You’re the first one not yelling at me to get out,” he explains all excited, bouncing on Junmyeon’s bed.

“I was your last option? Wow. I am so not hurt about this.”

“It’s nothing personal. You were just in the room I happened to enter last,” Chanyeol shrugs.

“So… You don’t care who you’re hanging out with as long as you have company?” The younger one asks, eyeing Chanyeol from head to toes.

“Kinda. So, you wanna play this game with m-”

Sehun raises his index finger as he gets up to sit properly. “Hold up, Chanyeol. Are you saying that you don’t care if it was me or, let’s say Kyungsoo with you right now?” He’s just making sure he got it right.

“Nope, it doesn’t matter.”

Sehun shuts his eyes and sighs. “Are you even hearing yourself?”

“What? Why? What did I say?”

“You can’t just… Expect people to like being around you. You have to want to be with ME in order for me to appreciate your company too,” Sehun tries to explain in the nicest way possible. “You gotta respect others and their privacy, too.”

Chanyeol looks down in thought. He never really thought of it that way. “Oh. Is that why everyone hates me here?”

“We don’t hate you, at least I don’t. But if you don’t start caring about others, I will hate you, too,” Sehun nods frantically, looking at Chanyeol with a smile.

“I just… Thought having friends was about having fun together.”

 

“Friends also have each other’s backs and support one another. It’s more fun when you trust and care about each other.”

 

Chanyeol bites his lower lip. “Huh. I guess I should try more. But like… How do I even start getting to know someone better?”

“Well, for starters, you should get to know yourself. Then maybe ask questions and talk about stuff that matters. And not just yourself,” Sehun smiles gently.

“But I do know myself,” Chanyeol looks at him all baffled, like Sehun was asking the weirdest questions. “I’m Park Chanyeol!”

Sehun nods along, thinking of what to say next. “Okay. Who is Park Chanyeol?”

“Me.”

The younger sighs. “Who is Park Chanyeol, other than you? Introduce me to him. What does he like, what does he not like, what’s his background…?”

 

The giant scratches his chin. He doesn’t even know where to begin with. “Well… Chanyeol is great. He’s a good composer and a devoted artist. He’s also very into superheroes, reminds everyone of Ironman.”

“Huh. Can you give me examples?”

Chanyeol gets silent. Being Ironman is something he’s wanted to be for a long time. “Examples of Ironman?”

“Yeah, what makes him Ironman?”

“He… Wants to be… Ironman?”

Sehun shakes his head. “Just because you wanna be Ironman it doesn’t make you Ironman. Now, what else can you tell me about Chanyeol, aka you?”

 

The taller man sighs loudly. He feels frustrated. “My backstory?” He ditches the idea of introducing himself as another person. “I come from a wealthy family, have a big sister and a mother and a father. When I was 14, I got casted into this big company that wanted to make me an idol, but after 7 years and still not debuted, I decided not to do it because they were going to take away my freedom to make music.”

 

“7 years? Jeez, that’s a long time,” Sehun gasps.

“I suffered till the end of my contract, to be honest, it was horrible there. I couldn’t eat how I wanted, I had school and practise every day. But I also learned many things. I can play many instruments and I can make my own music now.”

“You must be really passionate about music,” Sehun says, nodding along. Sehun is a great listener and overall a conversationalist. It’s what he does the best.

“I am! Someday I will become South Korea’s best producer you just wa-,” he suddenly stops talking. “Wait… Is this what you said about opening up?”

“I’m afraid yes, Yeollie.”

“Huh… Feels nice.” Sehun nods to Chanyeol’s statement but can’t ask anything else since there is a loud yell coming from the hallway. It sounds like Jongdae whining for some help.

Chanyeol and Sehun leave the room together to see what’s going on. To no one’s surprise it’s just Jongdae yelling with arms full of grocery bags, there must be at least four of them. Maybe five.

“YAH! Why didn’t any of you whacktards pick up your goddamn phones! I could’ve used the help!” He throws the bags on the floor and screams at the two tall men with his head all red.

Sehun covers his ears because Jongdae is so loud it hurts his ears. Even Baekhyun and Minseok retrieve from their caves to see what’s going on.

“And you two! You have done nothing the whole day!” He points to Minseok and Baekhyun with smoke coming out of his ears. He’s been so chill all this time, but now he broke down. “I went out there into the fucking cold, and bought us all food! I carried five bags the whole goddamn way here!” This must be the first time Jongdae swears in front of them.

 

“But the grocery store is like, across the street?” Chanyeol blurts out, and it makes Jongdae even more furious.

“Next time, you’ll go shopping for all of us,” he exclaims with his judgy finger up.

“Hey, shush, we’re sorry Jongdae, we’ll help you next time,” Baekhyun says sympathetically and takes two of the bags into the kitchen.

“I’ll accompany you the next time if you just ask. It must’ve been tiring,” Minseok sympathizes too, taking the rest of the bags like it was nothing. Jongdae smiles faintly to him but immediately stops when looking at the two tall boys.

“But you two… Wow. What was so important that you couldn’t help me?!”

Chanyeol looks at Sehun with a look that says help me. Sehun purses his lips together. “We’re really sorry Jongdae. It won’t happen again,” Sehun tries to reason, but Jongdae only glares at them before leaving to the kitchen to unpack everything.

The day goes on and Jongin and Kyungsoo return home safely, the 7 of them have setttled in. Over the past week they’ve gotten closer, they’ve also agreed that Kyungsoo makes the food, unless he doesn’t want to. Because he’s the only one who knows how to. If Kyungsoo doesn’t want to, then they’re on their own.

It’s three in the afternoon and Junmyeon isn’t home yet, but suddenly they hear someone ring the doorbell. They’ve all gathered in the living room to watch some corny soap opera but the bell made everyone’s attention fling out of the drama.

They look at each other weirdly before the bravest of them, Jongdae, takes it upon himself to get the door. Everyone follows him, they’re curious!

Jongdae opens the lock on the door and is relieved to see that the man behind the door is unarmed and looks harmless. He looks like a sheep, he has black hair that has frizzed up in the humid air.

“Hello?” Jongdae says after a while of silence.

“Oh! I mean, hi! Is…” the man behind the door looks at his palm, there’s something written there on his hand. “Kim… Junmyeon..? Here?” He has a funny accent, almost sounds foreign.

“Not right now, but we can deliver a message. What’s it about?”

“I saw this flier about… Moving in, but I guess the house is already full,” he looks at the line of men trying to see this stranger.

Jongdae hums and turns around to look at his roommates. “Well? What do we do?”

Baekhyun pushes Jongdae aside and let’s the man in. “You shouldn’t freeze out there,” he says ever so caringly, despite the man’s claims of it being quite warm out. How would Baekhyun know, he never leaves the house. “What’s your name, stranger?” Everyone has their eyes on him, it makes him a bit uncomfortable.

“I’m Yixing, Zhang Yixing.”

“You’re Chinese?” Minseok asks. They’ve all gathered around him in the hallway.

“Yeah, I moved to Korea four years ago to pursue my dream of becoming a movie director,” he smiles and shows his dimple. Everyone looks so mesmerized.

“A movie director! Is that your job?” Jongin asks all excited with his hands spread wide and open.

“Not quite…” he replies with a painful look on his face. “Actually that’s quite far from where I am right now. I’m unemployed.”

Chanyeol pats his shoulder. “Welcome to the team. None of us would be here if we had accomplished our dreams.”

They all introduce themselves to Yixing and get to know each other, after they’ve made way into the living room and offered him some tea. Yixing is a heartwarming guy, he’s full of passion and it seems like he won’t rest before he catches his dream.

“Can we keep him?” Baekhyun pouts, like begging for his mother to take in a stray cat. “Please, he’s so cute!”

“Baekhyun please, he’s not an animal, he’s a human being,” Kyungsoo tries to educate but Baekhyun’s pout is unbearable.

“Woof woof!” Yixing makes the sound of a dog and starts panting. Good thing he doesn’t try licking the guys like a cute puppy would.

“If we keep him then we have to get him a cage,” Kyungsoo changes his mind. At first he was so serious but Yixing made his heart lighter.

“Junmyeon loves dogs, you might wanna act like one when he gets home,” Sehun says. He hopes Yixing didn’t take that seriously.

Without them hearing anything, Junmyeon gets home and walks into the living room where he hears a lot of noise. He’s exhausted but glad to hear such joyful noise from the living room.

“What’s up with the laughter and am I invited?” Junmyeon says and eyes everyone in the living room. At first he doesn’t notice the new face, but drags a seat next to the couches.

“Look, Junmyeon, we found a puppy!” Chanyeol says to Junmyeon who’s sitting the closest to him.

“Woof,” Yixing chuckles out and greets Junmyeon. The latter stays silent and has a questioning look on his face.

“Please, Junmyeon! Look at him! Can he please stay?”

“Wait, what?” He asks with his eyebrows knit together. “He doesn’t think he’s a dog, does he?” They all laugh at Junmyeon’s seriousness and Yixing starts explaining the situation to Junmyeon. They all have a good laugh about it.

“I don’t know guys…” He starts. He just doesn’t want to seem like he’s that easy to persuade.  
“Yeah you do! He’s gonna stay!” Jongin quickly yells. They’ve all started to like this 9th member of their household.

“Yeah! He’s the same age as you,” Jongdae tries to reason.

“He can cook!” Kyungsoo says, he doesn’t want to be the only one with that skill.

“He’s adorable!” Sehun coos.

“He might die out there!” Minseok now butts in.

“He has to travel a lot, it’ll be like he isn’t even here!” Chanyeol makes a point.

“He’s just like all of us,” Baekhyun says with a hint of hope in his eyes.

Junmyeon looks at all of them alternatively. Junmyeon looks like a father and his children are waiting for the final answer, all of them look at him with pleading eyes.

“Please?” Yixing whispers with his fingers crossed.

“Alright, he can stay,” and as soon as those words leave Junmyeon’s mouth, they start cheering. Who knew they could get so attached in such a short time. He must really be worth it. “But who is he going to bunk with?” He continues and everyone gets silent.

“We didn’t think of that. He’ll have to become the third wheel to someone’s room. Preferably the ones that need less space,” Kyungsoo says. They all look at each other in panic. Their rooms are already crowded, a third person will make the room feel even smaller.

“He should come bunk with Jongin and me, I’m always in need of company,” Chanyeol admits. Jongin nods along happily. He loves the idea.

“Great, it’s settled then. Yixing will live with Jongin and Chanyeol.”

Junmyeon smiles to himself. He was thinking about this home of his all the time in university. How he can come back home to his new family after a painfully boring day. It’s what makes him happy, even though they’ve only lived together for a week.

He can’t stop thinking about Baekhyun’s statement: he’s just like us.

Are they all the same? Are they… One?


	5. 5th problem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am so sorry for the late update!!!!!! I was so busy last week and then i forgot ><
> 
> but anyways, hope you enjoy!!! ♥

Kyungsoo flashes the purchase under the bar code reader, it beeps and he puts the item in a bag for the old customer, smiles and thanks her and then the old lady is on her way.  
He’s at work at the grocery store. It’s just across the street to where they live, but it’s usually very empty, only a few customers at the store if any. It’s a small little shop that sells mainly food.

Kyungsoo looks outside through the big windows and sighs deeply. It’s getting dark, he’s doing the night shift today. He doesn’t mind being at work, but he’s sad that he won’t be able to pursue his real dream: acting. Acting makes him the happiest.

There are no customers in the store right now, so Kyungsoo goes to hide between the shelves as if organizing the ramen section. He picks up a pack of chicken flavored instant noodles, the package scrunches between his fingers, making an unbearable sound to the sensitive ears. Good thing he hasn’t heard well since 2012.

He pushes up his glasses so they won’t fall off and starts reading the packaging info out loud, slowly, quietly, unused to the thought of speaking to himself.

He straightens up his posture and clears his throat. The words start floating out of his mouth more powerfully, he’s confident.

“Might contain bits of nuts,” he almost sings, scrunching his face at that, “that’s odd.” He puts down the noodle package and moves on to the next item. He starts tapping his feet to an imaginary beat, snapping his fingers.

He walks into the freezer aisle and starts singing the package names to the beat he’s holding up. He gets into the song, walking around the store, adding names to his new song. He feels like he’s on set, acting for a scene in a movie where the lead has had a major revelation of himself. He forgets the work he has to do, instead focuses on the imaginary role.

“But all I ever asked for,” he sings, creating a dramatic pause before continuing, “was coffee beans.” Then he goes into the tapping and freestyle dancing. He’s at the candy aisle now, picking up a chocolate bar after he stops dancing. “All I came here for, was,” he sings with his eyes squinted but gets completely shut off when he sees a familiar figure at the end of the hall. He drops the chocolate bar on the ground and can’t move a muscle.

“Coffee beans? But Kyungsoo, that’s chocolate.” It’s no other than Jongdae, on one of his shopping trips. He comes very often because he forgets to buy all of the necessities at once.

Kyungsoo is still frozen, he keeps his eyes on Jongdae who has a playful smile on his lips. “I thought you came here to work, not to put on a show. Is anyone filming this? Should I be filming this?” Jongdae asks and looks around for other people, but it’s just the two of them.

“...Out,” Kyungsoo says after he unfreezes. He walks to Jongdae and starts pushing him away with his head low and cheeks burning hot. He has never felt this embarrassed.

“Yah! You can’t treat a customer like this!” He whines, and it makes Kyungsoo stop. He’s right, even if Jongdae is his friend. “Besides, you weren’t that bad! You actually have a very sweet voice! Better than most voices I’ve heard.”

Kyungsoo blushes and looks at his friend. “Really?”

“Yes! Of course, you missed a few notes there but other than that you could've passed as a professional!” Jongdae keeps praising and it makes the actor flustered, and for a moment, he is totally swept off his feet.

“Thanks, I-,” he awakens from the good feeling. “How… How much did you see? And why are you here?”

“I saw enough to see that I’ve been wrong about you this whole month I’ve known you. It seems you really can be expressive. Also, I came here to buy chocolate.”

Kyungsoo hums. His image is ruined, Jongdae isn’t afraid of him anymore if he ever even was. “With what money do you always come here? It’s your 5th time this week.”

Jongdae walks to the register to sit behind the counter. His feet can’t stand the standing anymore. The area is forbidden from customers, but Jongdae is enough trustworthy. “I dunno, the money my parents and brother gave me?”

“You still live off your parents' money?”

“I just moved out, like, a month ago. They’ve always been so pampering and caring, so they wouldn’t let me go before I accepted the money.”

Kyungsoo sighs, he can’t be but a little jealous. “One day you’re gonna run out of it. Then what are you gonna do?”

“I dunno,” he shrugs. “I haven’t really given it much thought. I don’t have a degree, I just sing at bars and stuff,” Jongdae sighs dreamily while looking at the ceiling. “What about you? Have you majored in anything that would give you money?”

Kyungsoo lets out a loud burst of laughter. He leans on the counter and calms himself down. “Nah, we’re the same. If my parents ask, though, then I’m doing just fine at law school.”

“Your parents think you’re studying?”

“Yeah, they don’t think being an actor makes you rich. They aren’t wrong I guess since I’m poor and work at the grocery store.” He smiles.

“Wow… There are so many things I still don’t know about you,” the whiny man whispers. He’s amazed. “But… Why would you lie to your parents? They’re gonna find out anyway, right?”

“Yeah, they are. But I thought I’d become successful before that. Now I’m not so sure. They don’t want a son that’s a failure.”

“They’ll love you regardless of your success,” Jongdae says from experience. He looks at Kyungsoo with questioning eyes. “Right?”

“Maybe your parents do, but my parents… I… guess they won’t,” Kyungsoo shrugs. He’s made his heart cold, he learned not to care about it. “I don’t want them to be disappointed. I love my mom… And my father, I just wish they’d love me, too.” This is the most Kyungsoo has opened up the whole month they’ve known.

Jongdae looks down and hums. “I mean, I get that you love them, and it’s sad they don’t make you feel loved, too. You should talk to them about this.”

“I’m really scared, though. Because at least now I have the thought of them still loving me.”

Jongdae nods along understandingly. “You don’t wanna shatter that image, huh?”

“Who does?” Kyungsoo looks down when asking the question.

“But for what it’s worth, I think being loved for something that you aren’t is much worse than being hated for who you really are,” Jongdae says and gets up from the chair, indicating his leaving.

“I guess you’re right. But we’ll see if I ever get there,” the man with the glasses chuckles, watching as his friend makes his leave.

“You still got your new family to love you. Once you open up to the rest like this, they’ll surely start loving you.” With that, he’s out.

New family. He was referring to all the roommates. They have gotten closer, but they still have a lot to figure out about one another. It makes Kyungsoo smile, Jongdae really is one of the kindest people he knows.  
**

Junmyeon hits himself with his textbook and groans loudly. He’s sitting on his bed and trying to… Well, study. Actually, it’s just him complaining about how boring it is and how he doesn’t care.

“Why did I ever want to study this?” He whines again and buries himself under the blanket.

Sehun on the other bed looks at the bump on the bed that is Junmyeon. He sighs, but deep down he feels sorry for the man. He puts his phone down and gets up just to sit next to Junmyeon.

“Junmyeon, hyung, dear, if you hate it so much, why don’t you just quit?” Sehun starts patting what he thinks is the head. He can’t be so sure, he’s under the blanket. He has nice red sheets with notes and hearts on it. And are those… cakes?

Junmyeon digs his way up and looks at Sehun. “And do what?”

The younger one shrugs, “I don’t know. But you wouldn’t be the only one here without a degree.” Sehun bites his lower lip since Junmyeon doesn’t reply. He throws the blanket off from the latter and drags him up. “Come on, let me show you something.”

Junmyeon goes along with it, he would do anything right now but to study. He’s being dragged into the hallway and then into the opposite room. It’s Minseok and Jongdae’s room. Sehun knocks on it lightly before entering. Minseok doesn’t even raise his eyes from the screen of his computer. He looks stressed and is trying to write down something, but can’t seem to wrap his head around it.

“Here is a good, and our only, example of someone who has a degree, Minseok. But he doesn’t make money off of it, so, his degree is merely pointless,” Sehun states like he was a tour guide and this is an old museum. “And don’t even get me started on Jongdae. He hasn’t done anything since high school. He has a hobby of singing, and he hopes to make it his career one day.”

Jongdae doesn’t register this, he has headphones on and he’s watching something on his phone, sometimes singing a few notes.

Junmyeon hums but doesn’t know what to say. So, Sehun starts leading him to another room, the next one on the wall. He knocks and walks in before he hears an answer. There’s Baekhyun playing on his PC, yelling and screaming at something. It’s an online game he’s playing. “Now this is a fine piece of art right here. He went to a vocational college for three years and didn’t get a job, even though he studied technology. Now he wants to make games. And he will, once he gets his group together.” Sehun keeps explaining, pointing to the gamer.

“Huh. But… It’s his own fault for not applying for any job,” Junmyeon states. It sounds a little bit more like a question than a statement.

“You might be right. But he didn’t get a job he wouldn’t like, and instead, he pursues his dream, his passion.” Sehun points out, and it makes Junmyeon quiet. He pouts a little but Sehun has to continue. “Then we have Kyungsoo, our future actor, who has nothing to lose since he’s already lost everything. But you see, Kyungsoo is the only rational one here. He has a job. A part-time job, but still, he pays his rent on time.” Kyungsoo is sitting on the bed and reading a book. He has noise-canceling headphones on so Baekhyun’s loud ass won’t bother him.

They move on to the last three, the room opposite BaekSoo’s. He walks right in before knocking. These three don’t seem to mind. Chanyeol is playing the guitar and Jongin and Yixing are sitting on the opposite bed, listening to Chanyeol and giving feedback. Jongin, of course, doesn’t dare to speak his mind, only praises him. Yixing, on the other hand, is giving harsh but well-appreciated feedback.

“Here are three fine specimens. Chanyeol was a trainee but never debuted, so he, of course, didn’t major in anything. But look at him go, he’s proud of his work, he can play a million instruments,” Sehun says enthusiastically but sees Junmyeon staring at him with bored eyes saying move on. “Anyway, then there’s Jongin. He’s teaching dance, his hobby to elementary kids.”

“Yeah?” Junmyeon asks as Sehun keeps staring at him with his arm pushed out.

“Goddamn elementary kids! Those kids are fucking horrible!”

“They’re not so bad…” Junmyeon tries, but only earns a judging head-shake from the younger.

“He never went to any school after high school. Then there’s Yixing. Yixing has probably done more than most of us here. He’s a high school dropout, sure, but he’s also a foreigner who came here to chase his dream! Would you ever move to another country?!”

“No-,” Junmyeon is about to answer as Sehun cuts him off.

“No!” The younger almost yells. “Of course not!” he drags them back to the hallway. “I get that you wanna be educated, but… Look at us. Having a degree doesn’t make your life easier, especially if you don’t care about your degree! We’re all doing just fine.” He smiles cutely to his hyung, who returns the smile.

Sehun grabs Junmyeon’s hands a raises them on their chest-level. “Please, if economic sciences make you that frustrated, just drop it and pursue your own dreams! I know you have dreams!”

Junmyeon starts thinking about his secret passion of becoming Korea’s most loved MC host, at least as loved as Lee Kwangsoo. That man is the bomb. He starts smiling. “You’re right, Sehun. Thank you for this reminder that this house is full of losers, what’s one more?”

The younger chuckles and flashes his hyung a bright smile. “We’re all losers together.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minseok is enlisting in 3 days... Can we cry together?


	6. 6th problem

The path to the bathroom is clear. Baekhyun can begin his mission. He closes the bedroom door behind him and hops lightly over the living room to the bathroom door.

He picks up the chopsticks from his pockets and looks around himself nervously. He can’t get caught. He concentrates on the lock and manages to get it open with the chopsticks. He happily goes in and locks the door behind him again.

He can hear Jongin in the shower talking to himself, but Baekhyun has been quiet, he’ll never know what hit him. The sneaky one undresses quickly, pulls the shower curtain out of his way and looks at Jongin with a wide smile.

Jongin, of course, screams from the top of his lungs, which is surprisingly quiet. Baekhyun is not affected by this, he just shakes his head and hops under the shower too.

"Baek! You scared the crap out of me! How did you even get in?" the younger one covers his chest as a reflex. Why his chest, no one knows.

"There’s no lock that would keep me out. Anyways, I don’t wanna shower alone so I decided to hop along," Baek says with a smile. He doesn’t care that Jongin doesn’t want a shower buddy. "You’re my first victim. I’m gonna shower with everyone in this house."

"Wow, you could’ve just asked," Jongin sighs and turns his back on the older. It’s a bit uncomfortable because he can feel Baekhyun staring at his naked body from head to toes. Just because Baekhyun is that kind of a person, he doesn’t want to feel awkward, nor is he insecure about his own appearance.

"But you could’ve said no," Baekhyun whispers with a pout.

Jongin sighs. The natural pushover he is, he knows he would’ve never dared to say no.

Baekhyun offers to give Jongin a back scrub. He also promises to get every place clean that Jongin's own hands don't reach. Jongin doesn’t dare to ask more about that one.

While the older keeps rubbing Jongin’s back with a scrub, he tries to maintain a conversation. The water is turned off so they could hear each other better. "You have a really nice body, like, really nice. I’m so jealous."

Jongin blushes a little and cups his own face with his hands. This feels so weird, but he doesn’t say anything about it. "Thanks… But you have a pretty nice body, too, why would you be jealous?" Jongin asks.

"Yeah, sure, but you have like a reeeeaaaaally nice body. For real." Jongin doesn’t reply to Baekhyun’s other compliment. He doesn't know how to. Holding a conversation is rather hard, but that’s fine. Sometimes it’s good to be silent.

Baekhyun purses his lips together and squints his eyes. He stops moving his hands as he realizes that Jongin has a bruise on his back. And not just one bruise, apparently, but a whole bunch of them all over his back. Some of them look older, some newer. He rotates Jongin around to see that he also has them on his arms and his chest.

Jongin looks confused and tries to see what’s wrong.

"Why are you all bruised up? It looks like you’ve been beaten up by a group of thugs," Baekhyun says and looks at him in the eyes with a worried expression on his face. Jongin bites his lower lip and looks anywhere but Baekhyun.

"It’s nothing. You know, just kids getting excited at the orphanage or at the studio…"

Baekhyun doesn’t buy the explanation, just keeps looking at Jongin with the same expression. Jongin gets uncomfortable and starts blabbering. "I fell down the stairs."

Still nothing.

"I beat myself up in my sleep."

Baekhyun chuckles. "You really have a lot of excuses. Tell me, Jongin, what really happened?"

Jongin sighs loudly and looks at the pink flower shower curtains. They are Jongdae’s curtains. "Okay. It was my girlfriend."

"Your girlfriend what?"

Jongin turns on the shower and turns his back on Baekhyun. Baekhyun furrows his brows and reaches to turn off the shower, making Jongin pout. He’s not letting this slide.

"Jongin. Tell me."

The younger one avoids eye contact but under the gaze of Baekhyun's piercing eyes, he breaks. "My girlfriend made those..." He says so quietly Baekhyun can barely hear him.

"First of all, I didn’t even know you had a girlfriend, second of all, I hope it's some sort of a sexual kink you have with her and not actual violence." Jongin stays quiet and keeps his head down. Baekhyun takes this as a no. "That’s so wrong. Why are you still with her?"

"I’m terrified of dumping her. We’ve been together for a year, and she’s not always so bad…"

Baekhyun raises his eyebrows and looks at the purple bruises on his body. "Really? Your back tells a different story. It looks as if she had run over you with a car!"

"Well, she used to be nice…" Jongin tries to defend, but Baekhyun only shakes his head. 

"Jongin… It’s not okay to be beaten up by your girlfriend. You shouldn’t be okay with it. Even if she was nice back then, you can't dwell on the past," Baekhyun says. He crosses his arms and looks at the curtains as well. "My girlfriend was in an abusive relationship before we got together. It was hard for her, but she eventually learned to say no to her ex… Then she got together with me and 'no' was all I ever got from her."

"You have a girlfriend?"

"Well technically we broke up over a year ago," Baekhyun chuckles and it makes Jongin raise his eyebrow. So much for the dwelling in the past.

"Why’d you two break up?" Jongin pries.

"She fell in love with another girl- anyways you missed my point. You have got to learn to stand up for yourself."

"...But it’s hard. I don’t want people to hate me," Jongin pouts.

"If she abuses you, you don't have to care what she thinks about you. I can guarantee you, she doesn't think that highly of you if she thinks it's okay to treat you like that. Besides, I do what I want and people still like me."

Jongin purses his lips together. "Sure, Baekkie. People love you." He gets tangled on the details and it frustrates Baekhyun. Anything to avoid the real issue at hand.

"What I'm trying to say is… You're a really sweet guy, Jongin. You deserve someone way better." He smiles at his friend. "I would hug you but I don’t want our dicks to touch," Baekhyun says in all seriousness. It makes Jongin laugh.

"Thanks, Baek," Jongin says with a smile. He doesn't want to talk too much about this for now. Usually, he doesn't say anything about his personal life, he becomes a different man when he has to talk about stuff that actually matters.

"Just don't hesitate to talk to me or any of the guys about this. We're friends, and I'd rather go through this with you than to see you suffer on your own," Baekhyun reminds with a smile. He pats the younger one's shoulder in a friendly way and turns on the shower.

 

**

"Guys watch this!" the only Chinese one among the nine guys exhilarates as he plugs his laptop into the TV screen. Everyone gathers around the TV to sit on the couches. Everyone just ate and before they can go, Yixing wants to show them something. 

"What are we watching?" Jongin asks with excitement in his voice. Ever since he had that conversation with Baekhyun, the latter hasn’t been able to leave his eyes and protection off of him. Right now Baekhyun is eyeing him. Jongin is like a little brother he never had.

"I filmed my first video! I want you guys to give me honest feedback!" Yixing flails his arms around before pressing the play button on his computer. Everyone just kinda started watching without a warning. 

The document starts rolling and it starts off with an aesthetic shot of a lamb eating grass. They can hear the wind brazing the grass, the light hits the scenery perfectly.

5 minutes of this and they start hearing Yixing's soothing voice in the background. He starts telling the story of a little lamb.

"Is this supposed to be a good night video because the food is sitting comfortably in my stomach and I’m about to feel the sleep kicking in," Baekhyun begins his commenting and yawns. Yixing furrows his brows and hums.

"It’s a document. About sheep."

"It's really fleepin’ boring, that's what it is," Chanyeol comments. Yixing tries his best to just nod along. He went through a lot of work for this.

"What Chanyeol means is that… We're not the right audience for this, since none of us like documents," Junmyeon tries to soften the blow.

Minseok looks offended. "Excuse me, I love documents."

"Well? Do you think this is good?" Junmyeon asks and earns a glare from the oldest. 

"No."

Yixing pouts. "Then what should I do better?" 

Sehun butts in with a question. "What do you wish to get from this, Yixing? Do you wanna be famous? Or are you actually that interested in sheep?"

Yixing falls deeper into the couch. He looks pretty devastated. "I really like sheep. But I also want people to like my content…"

"Maybe you should find what you wanna do before you start doing it?" Jongdae asks innocently. "You should try different things of course, but don't settle for less than a perfect fit."

Yixing pouts but appreciates the feedback. He nods as a sign of understanding.

"I like the aesthetic shots there!" Sehun tries to encourage him. "You should work as my professional photographer."

"Yeah, and it sounds like you’re saying real things and not just gibberish," Kyungsoo points out and they all stay silent to hear Yixing's voice in the film. 

"The bloopers of this must be hilarious, can we see them?" Chanyeol asks with a smile. He already pictured it.

"Well, I haven't edited them but I could if you all want."

"Yeah! Do that! I think that would be great!" Baekhyun yells. The Chinese one smiles brightly and takes his laptop. 

"Okay, wait, I think I'll have the clip by tomorrow," he states and runs to his room with his lappy. He looked so excited.

"I thought it was okay," Jongin tries to say but everyone just looks at him with unimpressed looks.

"He's not in the room, Jongin," Baekhyun points out. "He can't hear you."

"Don't give the kid false hope," Junmyeon says and pats Jongin’s shoulder. To this, the second youngest one frowns and mumbles something.

Sehun sees this and starts immediately defending Jongin. "But he has a point, you know. For Yixing's first video it was really good, he really tried his best. You really can't be supportive huh?"

The hyungs look down in shame, they were a bit harsh. "We were just honest…" Chanyeol mumbles with his eyes on his fingernails.

"But it's not like any of you would've done better," Jongdae joins in on the finger-pointing. He stands up and looks at everyone with disappointment in his eyes.

"You're right, Jongdae. We could’ve been… A little over the top critical…" Minseok replies. Whatever Jongdae says, he agrees. 

"Yeah! Next time you have to be more kind! It had a lot of good stuff in it as well!" Sehun stands up too and crosses his arms.

"Yeah, next time be honest but don't be so negative," the whiniest complements.

The guys just nod as they would nod to their mom. Okay, mom, I’ll behave next time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> although some of the guys have girlfriends, it doesn't make them straight. keep that in mind.
> 
> what ships would you like to see in this fic? ^^ genuinely interested!


	7. 7th problem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm so sorry for not updating this in like a million years!!! i've been kinda busy and unmotivated shshakfh. anyways, hope u like it mwah ♥

The sweet tune of birds singing and chirping outside carries into Minseok’s ears. The sun shines through the window brightly, he has to squint when opening his eyes. What a great morning, he can even smell pancakes.

Minseok stretches himself awake and gets up, he’s not a fan of staying in bed for long. Usually, he’s the first to get up. Who could be up so early in the morning?

He saunters straight into the kitchen in his pajamas to see what’s going on. He can barely keep his balance and almost bumps into walls before he’s in the kitchen.

There he sees a happy young teddy making pancakes. He’s swinging his hips playfully and mumbling some words to a song. His back is facing Minseok’s so he doesn’t notice the latter at first.

Minseok keeps looking at him, oh how positive and bright this young man is. How could anything bad ever happen to him? He sits down and watches the younger eagerly.

“Are you making me some, too?” Minseok suddenly asks, and it makes Jongin jump very high, he almost knocks down every item on the counter but somehow manages to turn around.

“You scared me!” He tries to catch his breath, he’s holding his heart in place in case it falls out of his chest. “How long have you been sitting there?”

“A while,” he replies with a shrug. He looks at the counter and the pancakes and he can almost feel his saliva dripping from his mouth. Jongin notices this and looks bothered.

“I-if you really want, I can make you some,” he stutters out and looks at the bowl he was using. He’s out of batter. Then he glances at his watch. He’s out of time too. “I was planning on taking these to the orphanage…” he continues. He really wants to please Minseok but he really doesn’t have the time to.

The older smiles. “The orphanage? You’re really taking pancakes to an orphanage?” What a wholesome man he is, always thinking about others.

“Yeah, it’s one of the children’s birthday. That’s why I made so many. I go there at least once a week to volunteer,” he says and looks down. Minseok keeps blinking his eyes at him. If there is a person who is more perfect than Jongin, he’s in heaven.

“That’s… That’s amazing. I should come with you sometime,” Minseok smiles. He probably won’t because new environments make him uneasy and children aren’t his favorites.

“Yeah, you should!”

“Anyway, I can make my own pancakes. Just go, make those kids happy!” He smiles and gets up from his seat. Jongin smiles faintly and packs the big pile of pancakes to a big lunch box.

After he’s gone, Sehun and Junmyeon come into the kitchen with the whiff of pancakes watering their mouths.

Sehun sits at the long table, he’s still tired. He looks around himself but when he sees that there are no pancakes he pouts and crosses his arms. “Gee, Minseok. If you’re gonna tease us with the smell of pancakes, you could at least make some for us.”

Minseok turns to Sehun and rolls his eyes. “Gee, Sehun. I didn’t make them, it was Jongin, he’s taking pancakes to kids in the orphanage.”

Junmyeon and Sehun both widen their eyes. “Wow, we know so little of Jongin, we should talk to him more,” Junmyeon wonders out loud, but Sehun is back to being unimpressed. He’s angry because he’s tired and hungry.

“He should’ve left us something…”

“Sehun, he made like 30 pancakes. You can make your own 2 pancakes,” Minseok says with an unimpressed look on his face. Sehun is such a princess at times. 

Usually, Minseok is quiet and awkward, but he’s comfortable around his roommates. As long as it’s something as casual as this. And Sehun’s gotten used to Minseok ordering him around. “But I don’t wanna…” Sehun pouts and looks at Junmyeon with pleading eyes, and it doesn’t take him long to crack. He almost agrees to make Sehun breakfast before Minseok shakes his head and offers to make some, since he was going to, anyway.

While he’s mixing the batter, Kyungsoo rushes into the bathroom and ten seconds after, he rushes out and literally outside. He had his shirt on backward and his jacket only half on. He must have overslept, but not for work. He was out and fast, that’s for sure.

Chanyeol comes along while Minseok is cooking the pancakes. He comes near Minseok and widens his eyes. “Ooo, pancakes~,” he stretches the s. “Can I have some too, pleaseeee?” He begs with a pout. Minseok sighs deeply and agrees. After giving a sweet smile to the cook, Chanyeol goes to sit around the table next to Sehun and Junmyeon.

It’s almost 11 am, everyone’s up except Baekhyun. Minseok, however, knows better than to leave the sleeper without any food. He ends up making 12 of them, 2 for each around the table and 2 extras. Just in case. He lays the pancakes on the table for everyone, but almost none of them say thank you, just dig in as soon as they can.

Minseok sighs, he wasn’t expecting anything big, just a little bit of appreciation. He sits down on an empty seat and watches his roommates happily eating.

The door clicks and it’s Jongdae and Yixing sneaking in with a cake on their hands. They’re trying to be quiet and subtle, but everyone turns to them once Yixing accidentally drops the keys.

Jongdae laughs slightly and walks into the kitchen and starts singing. “Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you,” Yixing starts singing along and the others enjoying their breakfast stop. They look around and don’t dare to say anything. “Happy birthday dear Minseok, happy birthday to you!”

Jongdae has a voice like an angel’s and a smile like a kitten’s, overall he looks the sweetest in Minseok’s opinion. Yixing is also cute, showing that dimple of his. Jongdae puts the cake in front of Minseok, it’s a pink strawberry cake with 25 candles on top. Or that’s what they think, no one’s going to count that many candles.

“Happy birthday Minseok!” Jongdae yells before anyone can say anything. Minseok smiles gently and thanks him, but the other roommates look confused. And a tad guilty.

Junmyeon scratches his nape awkwardly and looks around. “Oh, happy birthday Minseok. Why didn’t you tell us it’s your birthday?”

“Yeah, we should’ve made you the pancakes, not the other way around!” Sehun butts in. He looks sorry, eyebrows furrowed and smile upside down.

“It’s fine, guys, I just don’t think it’s a big deal,” Minseok shrugs. Jongdae, however, seems almost offended, as if someone had just shaken his whole world and beliefs.

“It is a big deal! It’s your birthday, this day should be all about you!” The whiniest complains, touching the older’s chin lightly. Minseok hates it when people touch him, but he’s never dared to say anything about it to Jongdae. His touches are okay.

“Thanks for the pancakes, Minseok, and happy birthday,” Chanyeol says with a smile too. He’s already eaten, he’s kinda hoping that they’d cut the cake.

Yixing gets the matches and lights the candles. “You have to blow them out and make a wish!”

“A wish? What would I wish for?” He turns to his friends and they shrug. It’s not a wish if someone else knows it.

“Wish for something you really want at the moment,” Junmyeon guides. Minseok nods along and proceeds to blow out the candles.

I really wish these fools would get off my back, Minseok thinks before blowing all 25 candles.

“What did you wish for?” Sehun eagerly asks as he leans on his fist.

“It’s a secret!” Jongdae shushes the youngest. Minseok nods along with awkward laughter. Right.

“I bet it was something sweet like ‘I wish for world peace’ or ‘I hope we can all live together for a long time happily’,” Yixing says. Minseok looks at him with a smile, that was sweet. He feels a bit bad for wishing for something so negative. But Junmyeon told him to wish for something he wants right now.

“You’re 25? Wow, you really look the youngest among us…” Junmyeon says. He leans on his arms and keeps eyeing Minseok. He laughs back awkwardly. He doesn’t like the attention he’s getting.

“Should we cut the cake?” Minseok asks after a while of silence. He can see the others drooling over the frosting, so he takes it as a yes. Yixing hands him the knife and he tries to cut it in even pieces. He presses the knife lightly and it sinks into the cake like to melted butter. Too bad he made the other half of the round cake bigger and the slices are uneven. Cutting cakes is not something he’s good at. And for once in their lives, nobody is complaining about it.

They all get a piece and they’re left with three pieces since Jongin and Kyungsoo are away and Baekhyun is sleeping. Someone should wake him up, but nobody dares to.

After they’re all done eating, they talk to Minseok like he was the king of everything, which he is. Then he rolls his eyes and curses the gods for not accepting his wish.

The last one sleeping rushes out of his room so fast you’d think he’d seen a monster. He looks around before locking his eyes on the group of people. He comes running to them. He can barely see ahead of him, the bags under his eyes are indicating that he must’ve not slept at all last night, he’s also wearing the same clothes as yesterday.

“Baekhyun, you look awful! Haven't you slept?” Junmyeon worries immediately.

“There’s no time to sleep! Minseok! Come!” And the latter does as he’s told, follows the gamer into his cave. Their room is actually very tidy because Kyungsoo cleans it every day.

Despite Baekhyun saying Minseok to come, all of them followed the two, curious as they are. Junmyeon enters the room last, there he sees Baekhyun telling Minseok to sit down on the chair before his computer. Minseok is only slightly disgusted by the sweaty chair he knows Baekhyun has been sitting on for a good 20 hours straight.

“Play this game!” Baekhyun points to the screen, he already set up the game, Minseok can only press enter to begin the game.

 

Minseok does as he’s told, and starts the game. He furrows his eyebrows at the sight. It looks like an old Mario game, it’s mainly pixels and aesthetic colors. The character he’s controlling looks awfully lot like him.

“Is that… Me?” Minseok asks, and to that Baekhyun nods enthusiastically. He tells Minseok to go on with the game, and he does. It’s quite impressive, the controls are good.

He moves the character forward on the screen, and soon he encounters another small figure. It looks familiar too.

“Is that me?!” Jongdae asks loudly, making everyone jump. Minseok feels troubled that they’re all breathing down his neck.

“Yeah, talk to him!” Baekhyun says again. He’s as excited as the rest of the guys.

Minseok encounters Jongdae in the game, and a small bubble appears on top of him. “Minseok hyung! I need your help! Now! Follow me!” Minseok has no other option than to follow the younger one.

He starts leading them on a sunny day along the grassy road to another roommate, it’s Kyungsoo. He starts running along without saying anything. That’s quite accurate. Then they come across Sehun, who’s fixing his hair and looking at himself on the mirror. They have to stop and watch him do his thing.

“Uh, guys, do you think my hair looks okay?” Sehun asks in the game.

Sehun looks at Baekhyun with his mouth wide open. “That is so unlike me!” He tries to defend himself, but Baekhyun just stares at him with his arms crossed, and the younger one gives up. “Okay, fine, maybe it’s a little similar…” They all turn to him with unimpressed looks. “Okay, a lot similar, geez, move on with your lives…”

Minseok has two options in the game. To ignore Sehun or to compliment him and he will follow them as well. Minseok decides to go with the second option, he says it looks fabulous. Sehun is pleased and starts running with them on the grassy road.

Next to come along is Jongin, who looks confused but of course, follows. A bubble appears over his head every now and then, he’s asking where they’re going. But if they stop running, he starts apologizing. Also very accurate.

Then there’s Junmyeon and Yixing, who look puzzled and almost stay behind, but come along afterward. Then there’s Chanyeol, who they have to stop for again. Chanyeol is playing the drums and can’t hear anything. Minseok has to do something to attract him, so he presses the space bar and it smacks Chanyeol in the game. They all start laughing, except Chanyeol.

“Ouch, Baek why?” Chanyeol pouts but to that the slightly older one only sticks out his tongue.

The 8 of them start running again, they look like a pack of sheep. Minseok is the one leading them, and soon they reach the last one, Baekhyun. They stop when they’re in front of him and suddenly there’s a bubble over every roommate’s head. They all read “happy birthday, Minseok hyung!”

Minseok turns to Baekhyun with a smile. He gets up from the chair and hugs the gamer. “That was the shittiest game I’ve ever played, but also the sweetest. Thank you.”

Baekhyun chuckles. “I know, I spent the whole night making it, I think it turned out okay considering I only spent 30 hours on it.”

They all chuckle at him and they form a group hug.

In such a short time, they’ve become a family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> have you heard the news about Kyungsoo enlisting in the military on the 1st? :((((( I'm gonna cry I'm so gonna miss him huhu.


	8. 8th problem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry these updates aren't as frequent as you'd probably want. I'm working hard on another fic right now, and I plan on publishing it this year, so this fic is kinda left in the shadows. I'm sorry. Anyways, enjoy!! ☻ Would love to hear your thoughts about this fic ^^

Minseok is on his phone even though it's way past two in the morning. He's scrolling through Facebook. Yes, Facebook, that's how desperate he is to not fall asleep. But Facebook is just filled with useless things, useless people updating their useless statuses.

"Oh, I am so tired. I'll continue my story in the morning. Good night, lovelies!" Someone posted on there about two hours ago. Minseok sighs and rolls his eyes. It's like they want Minseok to feel bad about not being able to sleep. What a privilege it is to sleep.

He sighs and quickly puts the phone away as he hears someone open the door quietly. It's Jongdae, he just came from the club. He wasn't partying, no, but singing. Minseok would like to chat with Jongdae, ask about his gig, how did it go, what was it like, but he's also dreading conversation with him. He fears it will be awkward and even though they have become close, it's his own image he is most worried about. Jongdae will soon find out what kind of a loser he is, and he's terrified of that day.

Just as he expects, Jongdae sneaks in and whispers the one question he wishes he could avoid.

"Minseok hyung? Are you awake?"  
Minseok hates lying, especially to Jongdae, but he fights the urge and shuts his eyes even harder. He doesn't see what's going on, but he hears Jongdae undressing himself. Jongdae has the cutest pajamas, they're gray and have like a hundred tiny pandas all over them. Minseok can only imagine how cute he looks in them right now. He doesn't dare to look.

Jongdae sighs deeply and settles on his bed, but the sheets are cold and the room is freezing. He shivers. Minseok can hear Jongdae talking to himself quietly. Then he hears him get up.

"Hyung, you will kill me in the morning when you wake up. But I have to." Minseok struggles to keep his eyes shut. What is Jongdae planning?

Just then he feels his mattress sink down from weight, Jongdae's weight. He tucks himself under the same blanket as Minseok and hugs his small body. At this moment Minseok can't breathe. He feels so stiff, he doesn't dare to move, not even an inch. That's a lot of physical touch from the guy he doesn't admit to adoring.

Jongdae rests his chin on Minseok's shoulder as he's sideways, clinging on to him. Almost every inch of his body is in contact with the older. Then he sighs in content. "Ah, so warm…" His warm breath on his ear sends shivers down Minseok's spine. 

Minseok knows Jongdae dislikes the cold more than anything, but this is too much for him. They're friends, sure, but can friends do this? If they're only friends, then why does his heart beat so rapidly?

He's sure he won't sleep a blink of an eye tonight. But that's sure worth it if Jongdae is happy like this.

**

Minseok wakes up to a loud cackle in the room. He opens his eyes quickly and notices that Jongdae is still sleeping next to him in that same position. His head is so close to his. Suddenly he opens his eyes. They are two inches away from each other's faces and Minseok gets startled. This makes Jongdae startled and they both start screaming at the same time as they take a leap from each other's embrace.

Jongdae falls down on the ground and notices the ogre on the door who dared to wake them up by laughing at them. It's, of course, no other than Chanyeol, who's practically on the floor from laughing so much. Tears can be seen in his eyes.

"Gayyyy!" He manages to say out loud through his cackles. This makes Minseok and Jongdae both blush. Minseok doesn't reply anything, just looks away. But Jongdae is as red as a tomato.

"I-I was j-just really cold last night!" He tries to defend himself, but the words that leave his mouth are breaking in pieces, he's stuttering badly. Minseok can't help but think it's the cutest thing ever. Jongdae stuttering. Almost better than Jongdae singing, but that's highly unlikely because it is impossible to have a sound that is better than his singing voice.

"Yeah, right, Jongdae. You just keep telling yourself that," Chanyeol finally says as he collects himself. "Anyways, I was just asking if you want any breakfast?"

"Sure," Minseok says as if nothing had just happened. Jongdae still seems so baffled.

"Great, then can you make me some as well?" Chanyeol has the audacity to ask. Jongdae gets up and gives him a bad look. "Kidding, kidding! Jeesh, these people can't take a joke… Anyways, Junmyeon wants you in the kitchen." Chanyeol leaves after a final huff and closes the door behind him.

Jongdae starts rambling as soon as Chanyeol is out. "I'm really sorry I crawled into your bed last night, I just really-,"

"Hate the cold? I know. Don't worry about it. To be completely honest, I've never slept that well," Minseok says with a soft smile, and it makes Jongdae smile as well. Despite Minseok's claims that he would not sleep a blink of an eye, he has, in fact, never slept that well. For a while they just look into each other's eyes and fall into their own world together.

Then Chanyeol's laughter starts playing in their minds and they break the eye contact with a cough.

"I'm gonna, ugh, grab a cold beer," Minseok tries to get away with this. Jongdae agrees and they leave the room together, almost making it to the kitchen where they keep the beer, but then Minseok stops. "It's… 11 in the morning. Maybe we shouldn't."

Jongdae laughs awkwardly and agrees. "Maybe not."

The rest of the roommates are in the kitchen as well, this time Baekhyun as well. Usually, he sleeps late. Not today, apparently. He looks tired and groggy, resting his head on his hands.

Jongdae takes a seat next to him but gets a hiss from Baekhyun.

"Didn't sleep well last night?"

Baekhyun now glares at Jongdae angrily. He's obviously not in a good mood. Jongdae is slightly taken aback, and that wakes up something in Minseok he didn't know existed. Somehow anything or anyone doing something not so pleasant to Jongdae makes Minseok want to fight, but he settles with a bad glare left unnoticed.

Everyone now knows not to mess with Baekhyun in the mornings. 

"But… Why is everyone here? We rarely eat breakfast together, since some wake up so early and some so late…" Jongdae asks and looks around.

They all turn to Baekhyun when he says something actually coherent. "Junmyeon woke us all up, with the help of that rat Sehun." Sehun presses his hand on his chest.

"Me? A rat? Honey have you looked in the mirror today?" Sehun says quietly because he's also a little terrified of Baekhyun. This makes Junmyeon muffle a burst of laughter.

"Baekhyun, chill, it's 11 am. It was about time you woke up," Junmyeon tries to reason, but Baekhyun keeps holding his head and sipping his coffee.

"It's Saturday, help the guy some slack," Yixing now says, and everyone turns to him rather amused. Help the guy some slack.

"You mean… Cut?" Minseok squints his eyes as he asks. He's not sure if he is entirely sarcastic or if he really just doesn't know the difference. Yixing looks puzzled.

"Really? It's not help?" He has his eyes as big as plates. Everyone shakes their heads. "Oh. Gotta note that."

Minseok still keeps looking at Yixing for a while before letting it go. He is Chinese, after all, not a native speaker.

"Anyways, today is a great day, because all of us have a day off. That's why I have a suggestion," Junmyeon starts and everyone starts groaning before he even gets to the suggestion. Everyone except Kyungsoo and Jongin. "What? You haven't even heard what I have to say."

"Junmyeon, we can't with your neverending suggestions. We know. We should do something," Chanyeol snaps back.

"Do you have any idea what that something could be?" Junmyeon fights. It gets silent so he chuckles. "Thought so. Look around, you'll see."

Everyone looks around but no one notices anything. Except for Minseok. Anxiety creeps up his spine as he notices his surroundings.

Everything is dirty, clothes and garbage everywhere. He hasn't left his room much lately so he hasn't noticed the sea of filth that is their apartment. The others don't even seem to notice.

"See? This is disgusting. We are disgusting. Why hasn't any of us done chores?" Junmyeon says and only now the rest of them notice. Minseok looks terrified.

"But who's gonna do it? Who's gonna clean?" Sehun asks with big eyes, hoping that Junmyeon will let him out of this task.

Minseok bursts before anyone else can say a thing. "You!" He points to Sehun and yells. Then he turns to Junmyeon. "And You!" Then on to the next one. "And you, you, you, you, you and also you! And me, most of all, me!" He has a panicked look on his face. "We need a chore table. We need to plan this out…" He has seriously lost it this time. He starts pacing back and forth and rubbing his hands together.

"Minseok calm down. We'll clean alright," Kyungsoo now jumps into the scene.

"You better. Or else."

Everyone immediately gets up and starts dividing the chores. Even Baekhyun. Minseok is scary, and also their hyung. They must obey him.

"No, no, no. We'll make a board and list out the chores and who will do them and on which day. That way this house will not end up how it is now. You just have to follow the board." Junmyeon tries to calm everyone down, especially Minseok. He's about to object but then nods to his suggestion.

Junmyeon beams as he pulls out a board he had made earlier. He had prepared for this. He puts the finished plan on the fridge door and everyone is happy. For a while at least.

"Why am I in charge of the laundry?" Chanyeol breaks the peace with his complaints once again.

"And why do I have to vacuum?" Sehun pouts as well. Jongin looks at the chores and sighs. He doesn't like his job either, but he doesn't dare to complain. Same goes with the rest.

Minseok glares at all of them badly as they start whining.

Chanyeol presses his lips together. "On second thought, laundry is just fine," he quickly says before disappearing in the bathroom.

"Yeah, and vacuuming is actually pretty fun," Sehun forces a smile and leaves to get the vacuum.

"Oh yey! Dishes," Yixing also looks uncomfortable as he smiles and gets to the sink.

"It's fine, I've always liked mopping the floor…" Baekhyun grits through his teeth.

"I know you love cleanliness. You hate dirt as much as I hate cold. So I'll gladly clean the shower," Jongdae flashes a smile at Minseok, the most genuine of them all. This manages to calm Minseok down just a little. Jongdae leaves to the bathroom as well.

"I'll make sure everything is in order and dustless," Jongin shyly smiles and starts picking out the trash on the ground.

Junmyeon and Minseok turn to Kyungsoo, waiting for him to oblige into working his part. Instead, Kyungsoo is on his phone, looking shocked.

"Kyungsoo?" Junmyeon asks, but the younger one doesn't look up.

"I didn't get it…" He mumbles out loud. Everyone in the hearing distance turns to him.

"What? Didn't get what?"

"The part. I didn't get it," he states again, shocked as ever. He can't say anything else as he just keeps his eyes on the ground. The atmosphere gets gloomy and everyone circles around Kyungsoo. "This was going to be… it. The turning point in my career. They already told me I got the part… Why the sudden change?" He mumbles quietly.

Everyone looks down. Kyungsoo's loss is all of their loss.

"It's alright, Kyungsoo, you did your best. Your time will come one day," Jongin says when the silence gets unbearable. Then he hugs Kyungsoo's tiny body.

"Yeah, you'll get more opportunities!" Baekhyun joins the hug.

"I'm so sorry, Kyungsoo," Junmyeon joins the hug. The others join in as well, one by one.

"It's just unfair," Kyungsoo says and the sadness is evident in his voice. They make the group hug tighter. So tight Kyungsoo might suffocate.

"Where do they live, I just wanna talk," Chanyeol says and makes Kyungsoo chuckle.

"They're obviously all dumb," Yixing says as well.

Kyungsoo sighs. "It's okay… It just wasn't… For me."

"It's not okay!" Jongdae starts whining and leaves the hug. "I'm gonna file a complaint!" Kyungsoo smiles in the hug. The hug has lasted way too long now, so they break it apart.

"Next time we'll come with you and make sure they won't change their minds," Sehun says all determined, to which all of them agree. Kyungsoo smiles widely.

"What if there won't be a next time?"

"Of course there will be a next time! You're our superstar! Besides, someone has to pay the bills," Jongdae assures.

"Jongdae is right. You're our only hope, domestic-wise and money-wise… And you're a great actor," Minseok pinches Kyungsoo's cheeks with a smile.

"I don't know what I'd do without you guys."

We still need to clean the house, Minseok wants to add, but how could he, when Kyungsoo only now smiles so widely?


	9. 9th problem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> jeesshh I'm so sorry for being so inactive ;_; I just have a lot of insecurities about my writing so I feel like I subconsciously postpone updating ;_; I'm sorry. anyway, hope you enjoy and tell me what you think!! ♥

Chanyeol keeps strumming the guitar in thought. He wants to make a song, but for the first time in decades, he feels inadequate. He keeps strumming and strumming in different ways, but he can't set the mood. He feels as if he’s just recycling his old ideas when he’s supposed to be creating something new.

He sighs and starts from the top. He doesn’t give up easily. But when he starts playing the guitar, again and again, frustration starts to build up. He wants to punch his fist through a wall. Or at least smash the guitar on the ground.

Just then he hears the door open. Yixing walks in and looks surprised to see the younger one on his bed.

“Sorry, I’ll just grab my sheep-,” he says but stops himself when Chanyeol is giving him a bad look. “What's wrong?” 

“I'm just stuck with this thing..” Chanyeol mumbles out. He frowns a little and it makes Yixing uncomfortable. So the older one sits down beside him.

“Okay. Wanna show me?”

Chanyeol lets out a frustrated sigh. He knows Yixing doesn’t understand anything about music, but he needs to complain about it to somebody. “I can't make a new song, it sounds like all the other songs I've ever produced.”

“I haven't ever heard your songs, so it's hard for me to say.”

“Well, I can play you the choruses of some,” Chanyeol lights up and starts playing. Sure he uses other instruments too, and often he uses only his computer. But today he wants to be acoustic.

He presses down the strings with his left hand and starts running his right hand up and down the strings on the guitar. It's a happy sound, and it makes Yixing smile. The composer starts singing half-heartedly with his raspy low voice and he's pretty good in Yixing's opinion.

Yixing watches intently, judging every movement and sound, but Chanyeol is quite the natural performer, he doesn’t mind at all. He completes the chorus and Yixing claps his hands to make a small airy sound. His dimple shows as he smiles genuinely.

Chanyeol holds up his index finger as a sign for the Chinese one not to get too excited, then he starts playing another riff. This time a bit more gloomy and not so funky. Yixing likes this a bit more. 

After he's done, Yixing smiles gently again. It gets silent so he thinks this is his time to start complimenting. “I really liked your songs! Seems like you've really found your style. So what's the problem then?”

“I can't make any new ones. If I start playing, they all sound the same!”

Yixing looks down in thought. “I get that that can be a problem. What if you switch instruments? Different sound, different ideas, right?”

Chanyeol hisses. “That doesn't help. I’ve tried.”

Yixing sat down with the intentions to help, so gosh darn it, he’s going to help. He taps his chin in thought, and Chanyeol looks at him like he was a genie granting his wish.

“If you want to create more stuff, you gotta step outside your comfort zone. I mean, you want new things, you should get inspired first with different styles. Now all you’ve heard is your own music. You should listen to other artists and combine the small pieces you like about each song. And boom! You have yourself a hit song!” Yixing pats Chanyeol’s back as he’s done speaking.

“But I don’t wanna listen to music, I wanna make it…” he pouts.

“If you are that desperate then you can always try. But remember my advice. Same goes for anything, really. If I wanna shoot a good video, I watch other videos before I start filming.”

“Then you should’ve watched a shit ton of videos before making your own,” Chanyeol shades. Yixing rolls his eyes.

“Yeah, and you have a lot of music to listen to,” Yixing drops before getting up. “But for real, Chanyeol, just a few inspirational songs and you’ll get going. You’re already so good!” He tries to soften the blow, but Chanyeol is in a really bad mood. He can’t get anything done in this house, so he gets up and tells Yixing that he’ll be back in a few hours. Yixing seems surprised but lets him go.

Chanyeol has no idea what he should do now or where he should go. He just wanted to go out. It’s Friday evening, he could go anywhere.

He took his jacket and left without much thought. Chanyeol rarely thinks about stuff before he does them. He likes to live doing the things he likes without much consideration for anything else. And that can be harmful.

The giant puts his hands in his pockets and looks down the whole time he’s walking. It’s not cold, it’s early April. But he leaves a steamy puff of air out every time he breathes, the kind that kids always blow in the air and pretend that they’re smoking.

He walks in the door of a bar. It’s a quiet little pub with responsible adults meeting other responsible adults in hopes of a hookup. Or something like that. Chanyeol only goes there for chilling music and beer.

He smiles at the people that meet his eyes and fixes his stare on the booth he usually sits at. Well, usually he’s not alone. As soon as he sits down on the couch, the band starts playing. Of course, it’s a chilly sound. He doesn’t look at the band, but sort of does what Yixing told him to.

He's seeking for inspiration. 

Then the singer opens his mouth and pushes out melodic notes. Chanyeol quickly looks at the band to realize that it's none other than Jongdae singing. 

Jongdae is a great singer, it's very interesting to hear him sing. He has such a powerful voice and great stage presence, it's captivating. Jongdae notices Chanyeol in the crowd and he smiles at him softly while singing. This makes Chanyeol smile too.

After the song is over, Jongdae walks to Chanyeol and starts talking. “Hey, what brings you here all alone?” He takes a seat opposite to Chanyeol. 

Chanyeol almost lies on the table, he's leaning on his left arm. “Lack of inspiration." He is happy to see Jongdae here. Being alone is really something he dislikes.

“Oh. Were you planning on making some songs today?”

“Well I was gonna, but I couldn't..” he sighs deeply.

Jongdae nods understandingly. “Well, if you need help, you can always ask me. I might not know much about music in theory, but I've had my share of singing to lots of different songs.” He has a sweet smile and it makes Chanyeol smile again.

“Thanks, but I think I'm done. Maybe I should get a real job. This is the end for producer Loey,” he replies with a depressing sigh. Jongdae bangs his fist onto the table making Chanyeol jump.

“No! You can't give up after a small bump on the road! You gotta push forward!” Jongdae says with such determination that it's almost scary.

“But Jongdae! I’m stuck! I won't rise from this!”

“You will! Trust me,” Jongdae says and takes Chanyeol's hand in his, forcing and eye contact. “You can do anything if you try enough.”

Chanyeol feels almost reassured, but also sad. He wants his big breakthrough to happen now, not after years of trying and failing.

Jongdae gets up and motions with his hand to Chanyeol that he should come with him. Chanyeol has no reason not to, so he gets up and follows obediently.

Jongdae leads him to the small stage that the band usually plays at. Chanyeol looks confused but Jongdae tells him to pick an instrument, so he settles with an electric guitar.

“Why?” the giant asks when Jongdae tells his drummer to come.

“What song do you wanna play?” Jongdae asks, completely ignoring Chanyeol's question. 

“I’m really not in the mood for-”

“Can you play Thorn by Buzz?” Jongdae cuts him off and something in Chanyeol sparks up. 

“Of course, I love that song!”

“Great! Then let's go!” The drummer starts the beat and Chanyeol has to start the guitar solo almost immediately. He plays cautiously at first, but starts getting into the familiar notes, he knows this song by heart, he doesn't need a music sheet. 

Jongdae starts singing softly and he looks at Chanyeol who seems to be into the song, eyes closed and body moving to the beat smoothly. It makes Jongdae happy.

After the song is over Jongdae stares at Chanyeol who seems like a spark had lit inside of him. That spark he has for music. Chanyeol looks back at the smaller one with an honest smile. 

“Thanks, Jongdae. I really needed that.”

“We all need a little reminder sometimes,” Jongdae says with a shrug. A reminder of why we do something, a reminder of why we are passionate about something. 

They stare into each other's eyes for a moment in silence, until the silence is broken by a loud yell.

Everyone turns to the door where the yell came from. To their utmost surprise, it's Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo isn't the type to make himself visible or yell, ever. Why he randomly came to this pub, no one knows. 

“In your face, world!” He yells with a big grin. He points his fingers up and doesn't care about the weirded out stares. He walks to the band's spot to see Jongdae first and immediately goes to hug him. 

“What's this all about?” Jongdae asks and hugs back hesitantly. He looks at Chanyeol who shrugs.

Kyungsoo backs away and he still has that big grin on his face. He grabs Jongdae's arms and looks him dead in the eyes. “Thank you, Jongdae. For believing in me.”

“You're... Welcome?” Jongdae tries to smile back but he's still so very confused.

“What did you do?” Chanyeol asks what everyone in the room was thinking about.

“I got a part in  _ Heirs _ !” Kyungsoo clarifies. Jongdae understands the excitement and starts jumping.

“You got the part! Of course you did! I’m proud of you!”

Chanyeol still doesn’t understand what all the fuss is about. “What's Heirs?”

Jongdae stops everything he's doing and glares at Chanyeol. “How do you not know Heirs? It's a new drama that's casting roles right now! It's said to be South Korea's next best drama!” Then he turns back to Kyungsoo all excited. “I'm gonna be a friend of a superstar!”

Chanyeol furrows his brows and his mouth is hanging open. He puts down the guitar and walks closer to the two.

“Really? You had your breakthrough already? Wow, I'm jealous.”

“Nothing is for sure yet, Yeol,” Kyungsoo reminds.

“We're all gonna be superstars!” Jongdae laughs. It's hard to be realistic when your friend is hyping you up and imprinting pictures of you and your wealthy future in your head.

Chanyeol breaks and starts jumping up and down with Jongdae and Kyungsoo. People look at them weirdly, but they'll be sorry once they become superstars.

One day, it'll happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sigh anyone else missing exo like crazy?


End file.
